Douglas Haig - Butcher Or Hero?

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Douglas Haig Butcher Or Hero? Douglas Haig has been blamed for the slaughter of thousands of men who were under his control in World War One. The Battle of the Somme was one of his worst fights were 55 000 British soldiers died in the first day alone. After the Battle of the Somme, Haig got the nickname "Butcher of the Somme" This site is going to look at Haig and his life and help answer the Question "Was Douglas Haig a Butcher or a Hero?" It will also look at Haigs worst battle, the battle of the Somme. Douglas Haig was born on June 19th 1861. He was the son of John Haig, a wealthy owner of a whisky-distilling factory in Edinburgh. Douglas Haig was educated at Clifton College, Oxford and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. After his education, Haig joined the 7th Hussars in 1885 and served in India. Haig also served at Egypt, South Africa and the Sudan and slowly worked up through the Ranks. ...read more.

Middle

When Haig returned home after the war he was rewarded with an earldom, �100 000 and the ancestral home of the Haigs at Bermersyde, for his service. On the 28th January 1928, Haig died and was buried at Dryburgh Abbey. The French forts at Verdun on the Western Front, were getting slowly weaker and the French needed to think up a plan to get the Germans awy from Verdun so that the forts could get back up to strength. So the French Commander in Chief Joseph Joffre asked Douglas Haig to make a counter attack at a different place. Haig agreed and chose the area around the River Somme for the Battle. The Battle at the Somme was originally meant to be a joint attack against the Germans made by the French and British. But because of the attack on Verdun on February 1916 it meant the Somme offensive had to be mainly fought by the British. The Plan Haig took over responsibility for the attack and came up with his own plan. ...read more.

Conclusion

This meant no-one could get through and they got shot. The term "Butcher of the Somme" was given to Haig by those who felt that Haig did not care or how much ground was gained for the heavy losses inflicted on British Troops during the battle of the Somme (July-December 1916).Defenders of Haig argue that he had few options and had himself been ordered to launch the offensive to let the French recover at Verdun, where there was heavy fighting. What I Think I think Douglas Haig was not a Butcher. The Somme was a diversion wanted by the French and Haig did it for them. If the Somme had not been fought then the Germans could have broken through Verdun and taken France. Douglas Haig was not used to modern warfare, no-one was and Haig tried his best in situations that he had never come across before. Another point to consider is that Germany had the most casualties in the battle of the Somme which shows that the tactics used by Haig did work, although they didn't work very effectively. ...read more.

Found what you're looking for?

Start learning 29% faster today

150,000+ documents available

Just £6.99 a month

or

Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

Since this has been prepared for a website, it does not take the form of a structured essay, but still provides an interesting and well supported view on Haig's role. There is perhaps too much background information though; this could be replaced be more detailed analysis. 3 out of 5 stars.

Related GCSE Britain 1905-1951 essays

It all interlinks. Less men equals more unemployment which equals less resources which means there's less trade which equals the government having less money which ultimately results in increased poverty. Britain was in a downward spiral which would be heard to get out of.

Source 4 tells us that the returning army left behind most of its heavy equipment 600 tanks lost, more than 1000 filed guns, 850 anti-tank guns and a large number of lorries cars and motorbikes were left in France. I have gathered from this source that the fleeing solders did

When Germany heard of this they wanted to build a ship similar, bigger and better. And so it happened where the countries started to compete with each other and huge amounts of pressure were put on their shoulders to make more technology advanced weaponry.

The Brits were easy targets weighed down by the equipment as they struggled to penetrate the wire. However the causes of these tactical errors are more worrying. Haig had very little information about the German front line and defences including information about the depth of the German wire, their concrete lined bunkers or machine gun positions.

"the obvious poverty and deprivation of the town children, not to mention their bad manners." Even though this source is focusing on the negative aspects of evacuation to make it more entertaining, it has a valid point. The evacuees were also very unhealthy and unhygienic, with reports of "urinating on

However overall the development of aircraft and motorised transport put the civilians in more danger and the government recognised this and took action. As British civilians were at great risk the government felt responsible to take control and create a number of strategies and plans to defend the public.

After researching the Blitz, I have come to the conclusion that it is not a key turning point, it didn't change the war enough to be a turning point on its own, it only awoke and irritated the sleeping giant which is Britain.

This probably did not affect the Tommies as much as it did their families, because they would not have seen the paper as they would have already, left but their families would have seen the man who had total control over whether the son lived or died say that he didn?t care about the soldiers.